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[quote user="DMUinCT"] The Northeast Corridor: As published in Amtrak's January issue of "Amtrak Ink", in 2010 the Acela and Regional service in the Northeast Corridor had 52% of Passenger travel between Boston and New York against 48% for Air Travel.   Between New York and Washington DC Amtrak achieved 69% of the Passenger traffic.   Acela accounts for 1/4 of Amtrak's ticket-sale income, $440 million in Fiscal Year 2010. Northeast Regional Trains are Amfleet Cars pulled by HHP-8 or a pair of AMC-7 locomotivesand run about every 2 or 3 hours on the Boston to Washington corridor.    Some of the Regionals change to diesel in Washington and continue on to Richmond and south.   How far south would you want to extend this service, and if not now, it will come in future years as "The Corridor" extends both south and north. Interesting fact, Bombardier of Montreal became the prime contractor for the 20 Acela Train Sets (120 cars and 40 locomotives).  They were subject to the "Buy American" clause.   Bombardier opened a factory in Barre Vermont to assemble the trains and ship them to Colorado for testing.  When the contract was complete, they closed the factory.  Where will they build U.S. trains next time?  [/quote] The January 2011 issue of Amtrak Ink is not available on the webpage, but the fact that Amtrak carries more passengers in the NEC than the airlines is a well established fact.  But the larger question is what percentage of total travelers in the NEC choose the train.  I suspect that most people traveling in the NEC choose their car, probably the majority, whilst a large number, according to a study by the Cato Institute, choose the bus.  As you may know, Bolt bus, which is a private enterprise operation, is doing very well in the NEC, especially between Philadelphia and New York.  I have ridden the Acela on several occasions, usually from Philadelphia to New York.  I love it.  In fact, I will be going to New York in May.  To get there I will fly to BWI and take the Acela to New York.  It is a wonderful excuse for a train ride. Although Amtrak says that it grabs 68 per cent of the train/air travelers between New York and Washington, my experience suggests that the number is front-end or back-end loaded, depending on the direction of the train.  The load factor on the trains between New York and Philadelphia is much higher than the load factors south of 30th Street.  If this is true for the NEC as a whole, it means that Amtrak has 68 per of the passengers in the NEC between New York and Washington, but not 68 per cent of the air/train passengers between New York and Washington. The NEC is the one corridor in the U.S. that Amtrak probably could operate without government subsidies.  It would need to change its pricing model somewhat, as well as get a better handle on its costs, probably through better management of its labor costs and its overheads.
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